Page 78 of Hollow Valley

“Who are you?”I asked.

“I’m Jordy Duvall, and I live up the way in Xwechtáal,” he explained.His heavy boots stopped right before my head, and I finally got a look at him when he reached me, albeit with an upside-down view.

Most of his face was covered by his ski mask, so I could only get a glimpse of his deep olive skin and his disorienting hazel eyes.The only thing I had been looking at for days was the mountain, and his eyes were, somewhat ominously, the same exact palette: gray stone and pale snow, sunlit gold and shadowed pine.

“What kind of predicament have you got yourself in?”he asked, sounding almost amused by my near-death on the mountainside.

“I fell, and I think I’ve broken my ribs and my clavicle,” I said, because playing coy about my injuries wouldn’t help any.I could hardly move as it was, and the only thing I had consumed all day had been the snow that I could reach with my tongue from where I lay.

“And that’s your mule here?”Jordy asked, motioning to Vince, who had been sniffing me all over since he returned.

“Yeah.His name is Vince,” I said.“And Ripley is the lioness.”

“So you have a hero mule, a pet lion, and a few broken bones,” he surmised, again with that amused glint in his eyes.“Have I got that all right?”

“Pretty much,” I admitted.

“Well, the good news is that I can help you with all that,” he said.“The bad news is that it’s gonna hurt like hell getting you back to town.”

“The bad news is that I’m the harbinger of death, but I really don’t want to die out here,” I told him honestly.

“That’s what I like to hear!”He started shrugging off the large pack he had on his back.“I actually do emergency patrols around Xwechtáal, which is why I followed your friend Vince here down the hill.I figured a pack mule without a rider meant someone must be in trouble.And that’s how I found you.”

“I’d take umbrage with that, but I think Iamtrouble,” I said, and then more wearily, “Toomuchtrouble.”

“Nobody is too much trouble,” he said conclusively as he pulled a collapsable stretcher out of his pack.“Or rather,allhumans are too much trouble, but we’re all mostly worth it anyways.”

“You really believe that?”I asked.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here loading you onto a stretcher,” he said.“I’m going to hook it onto your mule, so he’ll be the one pulling you along.It’s going to be a bumpy ride, but it’ll be the fastest way to really help you back in town.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“I suppose if I’m going to be helping you, I should at least know your name.”

“Remy King.”

“Nice to meet you, Remy,” he replied.“Let’s hope this is the start of a pleasant friendship.”

48

Remy

It was dark when we arrived in Xwechtáal, since Vince’s pace was hindered by dragging me along in a stretcher.Jordy had also been right in that the entire trip was agony.Overall, though, the pain was a double-edged sword: I passed out from it at least three times, but it always eventually woke me again.

Someone tried to take my temperature at the gates, but Jordy waved them away, and for some reason, they listened to him.

From my place on the stretcher, I hardly saw anything of the town, other than a few glimpses of roofs and trees.Eventually, we came to a stop outside a barn that used to be a garage.A staircase clung to the outside wall, leading up to the second floor.

“I’ll come back and take care of your mule in a minute, but let’s get you upstairs first,” Jordy said before gingerly putting his arms around me and helping me to my feet.

Very slowly, he managed to get me up the stairs to the apartment above the garage.It wasn’t without a great deal of pain, but it was the only way to get me up there.

The apartment was completely dark when we went in, and he carefully sat me down on a cold mattress.He scrambled around the room, and shortly, a fire roared to life in the hearth, illuminating the one room flat under a pitched roof.

“I’ll let you catch your breath for a minute,” he said.“I’m going to get your mule all settled in.I have my own mule, Buck, actually, so I’m all set up to make him comfortable.Once I’m done with him, I’ll run over to my house next door to get a few things to help you.”He started for the door, then paused.“What do you think is wrong?”

“Broken ribs and clavicle,” I repeated my best guesses.“And some frostbite on my toes.”